Hotel rules in Australia from way back
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (381908)
Rockingham, Australia
February 22, 2024 9:42pm CST
I don’t have anything special to write about today but came across these facts on a news site about Australian hotels.
Do any of you know of Sigrid Thornton? She is an Australian actress but I don’t know how well-known she is outside of Australia, Anyway, back in 1965, when women were banned from drinking in public bars, her mother and a friend chained themselves to the foot rail of Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel in protest. Women were expected to drink in the lounge bars.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Temperance movement was strong. In 1916, with the country fighting in World War I, most states ordered bars to close at 6pm. This led to what was called the ‘six o’clock swill’ with office workers engaging in very fast, very heavy drinking from five o’clock knockoff till six pm. One of the more gross results of this law was that men would relieve themselves in the bar so they wouldn’t lose their place.
Despite women being banned from public bars, many hotels were licensed and run by women. Hotels were required to provide room and board which was seen as a woman’s domain. It was also considered more likely that women would retain a more civilised drinking culture.
The photo is of one of our country hotels.
22 people like this
21 responses
@Juliaacv (56227)
• Canada
23 Feb 24
This is very interesting.
I wonder, since many of us no longer leave home to work, if the after work rush for a drink will all but disappear and take its place in another form.
Many of our downtown watering holes and lunch hot spots have closed as a result of people working from home.
5 people like this
@FourWalls (86615)
• United States
23 Feb 24
The interesting thing is that, in the “old west” in America, women who ran “boarding houses” with a “saloon” were usually thought of as “keepers of a disorderly house” or operators of a brothel. “Woman’s domain,” indeed! 

4 people like this
@GardenGerty (169448)
• United States
24 Feb 24
Lovely picture. Often women have been subjected to double standards.
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
23 Feb 24
Interesting architecture... are those drain pipes from the balcony?
1 person likes this

@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
24 Feb 24
@JudyEv Not with that bend, I don't think.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
@BarBaraPrz That crossed my mind too. We've have to take another trip out there and check it out more closely.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (91299)
• United States
23 Feb 24
This behavior you have described is wanton debauchery. Bars and filthy drunks are despised by civilized people. Says I.

1 person likes this
@Fleura (34954)
• United Kingdom
23 Feb 24
It was the same here. Pubs generally had a bar, and they were legally allowed to refuse to serve women until 1982. They also generally had a lounge bar, more comfortable and civilised, where women could go. It seems weird nowadays doesn't it?
1 person likes this


@sathviksouvik (23240)
•
26 Feb 24
this is interesting. In India women are allowed to drink in hotels
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Feb 24
I was talking about laws from quite some time ago. Women can drink in hotels here now and in any part of the hotel.
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
23 Feb 24
Ugh. I can't imagine cramming all of your drinking into one hour! Have a great weekend.
1 person likes this
@dgobucks226 (37621)
•
2 Mar 24
Interesting history. That's a really neat Country hotel. Much better than our Motel 6's. Now that must have been some "Happy Hour." And it was exactly an hour too.
Was it ever considered appropriate for women to eventually drink in a public bar?
Was it ever considered appropriate for women to eventually drink in a public bar?1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
I like reading about days gone by and the mores and standards that abounded.
@wolfgirl569 (135643)
• Marion, Ohio
23 Feb 24
That is a beautiful hotel. There are many funny laws everywhere.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (97957)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
23 Feb 24
That is a beautiful hotel, That is interesting and more power to women, I am glad things have changed,
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (91044)
• United States
23 Feb 24
That's a very pretty hotel in your picture.
Times certainly have changed over the years especially when and where women can drink.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
Women still have a way to go but things are a bit more equal than they once were.









And you can visit (and stay) with us.














